McLaren offers F1 simulator role for virtual racer

Formula One teams use simulators to acquire data and develop their cars.

Woking, Surrey – The McLaren Formula One team has launched a virtual racing competition with a real job as a simulator driver as the prize.

The former world champion, which is struggling with Honda engine reliability and performance issues this season, said the winner would be offered a one-year contract to help it improve the car.

With real track testing heavily restricted under the regulations, Formula One teams use simulators to acquire data and develop their cars. The duties are often handed to the official reserves.

McLaren Technology Group Executive Director Zak Brown said it was the right time to connect the worlds of racing and gaming in a new way.

"The winner will genuinely be a key part of our team at McLaren," he added. "This is for real: we absolutely require additional support across our two simulator platforms."

The 'World's Fastest Gamer' competition will be a collaboration between McLaren, team sponsor Logitech G and Darren Cox, the founder of virtual motorsport's GT Academy.

McLaren said the initiative would make it the first Formula One team to enter the E-sports arena. Six international finalists will be selected by experts in gaming and Formula One with a further four finalists chosen from qualifying events online.

McLaren said contestants would race across a variety of different gaming titles and platforms and would also need to demonstrate engineering know-how, teamwork and the necessary mental and physical strengths.

The winner will be offered a one-year contract to help McLaren improve the car.

The world of E-sports is enjoying huge growth with traditional media companies and big videogame publishers clamouring to get involved. Formula One's owner Liberty Media, which took control of the sport in January, has highlighted gaming as a growth area as it seeks new audiences and increased revenues from North America.

Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei said in 2016: "Less than one percent of revenues are from digital; I think there's a lot of things that can be done around gaming, virtual reality and augmented reality."

Research firm Newzoo expects the global E-sports audience to reach 385 million in 2017 with the market generating $696 million (R9.5 billion). North America is the largest market, with predicted revenues of $257 million (R3.4 billion) in 2017 and $607 million (R8.3 billion) by 2020.

The all-electric Formula E series staged a virtual race between all of its drivers and gamers in Las Vegas in January 2017. The winner, Dutch virtual racer Bono Huis, collected a $200 000 (R2.7 million) jackpot.